Note: This is a seattlepi.com reader blog. It is not written or edited by the P-I. The authors are solely responsible for content. E-mail us at newmedia@seattlepi.com if you consider a post inappropriate.

The Happenin’ on the Hill Today!

Today’s Happenin’ on the Hill is a celebration of the woods, a community, and a vision that was shared by neighbors on Beacon Hill with Georgetown’s Environmental Outreach and Stewardship (EOS) Alliance. Together, they’ve turned the corner on reclaiming a 15-acre greenbelt, the Maple School Natural Area. What’s so impressive about this project is not only its contribution to urban forestry, but that it provides a model for public stairway reclamation and maintenance.

Happenin’ on the Hill is Saturday, July 10, from 12-4 PM in the Beacon Hill neighborhood at S 20th Ave and S Lucile St. The event will spread awareness of the importance of community involvement in a local green space. Seattle may lose 70% of its forested park lands in 20 years if action is not taken, and our communities may be our best hope of ensuring a better future for Seattle’s environment.

Speakers at the Happenin’ include Richard Conlin, Seattle City Council President; Tom Rasmussen, Seattle City Council Member; Joanna Nelson, Green Seattle Partnership; and EOS’ Ben Kantner, AmeriCorps member. There will also be free music, art, food, a raffle, and a self-guided educational tour through the natural area.

In 2000, if you had stood atop the Lucille stairs – east and uphill from Cleveland High – you would have seen a landscape overrun by two exotics, English ivy and Himalayan blackberry. A neighbor just off the top of the stairs saw the forest in the ivy covered trees, and shared that vision with the EOS Alliance. Today, significant areas of the Maple Ravine have been restored. Regular work parties of EOS staff and volunteers have also planted thousands of native ferns, shrubs, and trees. The project is part of the Green Seattle Partnership, and is funded in part by the USDA Forest Service and the King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks.

Why is urban forestry important? The invasive species crowd out native plants, destroying habitat for native wildlife and disrupting the natural balance of species in our woodlands. Once a natural area is dominated by invasives, it further isolates remaining pockets of woods. To understand the forest on Beacon Hill, you have to go beyond thinking about individual parks and spaces and see the the woods as a forest. There is a human cost, to abandoning our greenspaces, as they become areas prone to crime.

Too, there’s a pocketbook incentive: Seattle’s forests provide the equivalent of $1 million per year benefit in stormwater management. Conifers along roadways trap soot in their leaves, which results in cleaner air and reduced incidence of asthma: healthy urban forests make us urbanites healthier. From a global warming perspective, an average acre of conifer forest captures 13 tons of carbon dioxide each year.

In addition to removing invasives and planting native trees and shrubs, volunteers at EOS work parties have a chance to learn about urban forest ecology and identifying native and invasive species. The atmosphere at the events is always upbeat and positive, with volunteers’ contributions welcomed and respected, so people tend to return to the area and have fun in the process.

There are three anchor projects for forest reclamation on Beacon Hill, to the north the combined Dr. Jose Rizal/Lewis Park/Jungle restoration, Cheasty to the east, and the Maple School Natural Area to the south. Together, they help realize a forest that will be again.

Note: This is a seattlepi.com reader blog. It is not written or edited by the P-I. The authors are solely responsible for content. E-mail us at newmedia@seattlepi.com if you consider a post inappropriate.